Anahata
Anahata
2013, Singapore Biennale, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2023, Dancing with the Cosmos, The Private Museum, Singapore
In an effort to explore different states of being through the colour red, Kumari piled four tons of saga seeds—sourced from across Southeast Asia—into a cone-like, site-specific installation in the heart of the Singapore Art Museum. Recognizing the immense potential energy in each seed, she aimed to bring them together in a concentrated form. The installation was positioned so it was framed by the museum’s wings, with the beating heart of Anahata releasing saga seeds from the centre of the pile. This flow carried energy through the building’s spine, forming a serene space that fostered a strong sense of communal connection among visitors.
According to Hindu metaphysical tradition, Anahata is the fourth or ‘heart’ chakra, symbolizing an unstuck or unhurt state. Kumari expressed change here not through an overt physical force, but through the latent power stored within each seed, which contains the entire life-force of a tree in its tiny kernel—much like a beating heart sustaining a living body. The work also subtly nods to the site’s past as a former Catholic boys’ school, where knowledge was cultivated. Pulsing with thousands of seeds, Anahata suggests that the most profound power lies in boundless possibility.